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July 26, 2006
Rookie minutes
I've gotten a couple of e-mails asking how much Lakers fans should expect Jordan Farmar to play as a rookie. Those kind of decisions won't be made until training camp at the earliest; unless I'm wrong, Phil Jackson didn't attend any of his summer league games at the Pyramid.
But if you're looking for an over/under, how about 11.6 minutes per game? That's the average that a first-round draft pick has played for a Jackson-coached team as a rookie. Stacey King averaged the most minutes of any Jackson rookie (21.6) back in the 1989-90 season. He also was a No. 6 overall pick.
Kareem Rush and Luke Walton (a second-round pick) both averaged double-digit minutes and played in 70-plus games as rookies. Brian Cook averaged 12.5 minutes but played in only 35 games. Devean George averaged about the same minutes (7.0) on a 67-15 team as Andrew Bynum did out of high school (7.3) on a 45-37 team.
It is going to be difficult for Farmar to find minutes with the Lakers having four ball-handling guards (Smush Parker, Shammond Williams, Sasha Vujacic and Farmar) on the roster. Keep in mind the Lakers can activate only 12 players total for each game.
They also have the option of having Farmar play for their NBA Development League team, which they don't with Vujacic now in his third year. And you have to assume that Andrew Bynum will be on the active roster all or most of next season as the Lakers try to get him NBA minutes.
Right now, I'm going with the under on 11.6 minutes per game, but you never know.
Posted by Ross Siler at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2006
Right on schedule
This is the time of year when the draft schedule for the upcoming NBA season starts making the rounds, which means there are rumblings about what is likely ahead for the Lakers. Everything is subject to change, please remember, until the NBA releases the official schedule, which took place on Aug. 8 last year and Aug. 2 the year before that.
The Lakers are supposed to open the season Tuesday, Oct. 31 against Phoenix at Staples Center, a rematch of their first-round playoff series. I'm not a gambler, but I saw a site recently that had the Suns, Mavericks and Heat all 9-2 favorites to win the 2007 title. The Lakers were at 40-1. It should be an interesting opener, especially with Amare Stoudemire back for the Suns.
They will play at Miami in the NBA's marquee Christmas Day game, the third year in a row the league has brought together Kobe and Shaq on the holiday. They push this rivalry so much, the NBA might as well have the Lakers open the season in Miami and watch the Heat get its rings.
There is a marathon eight-game road trip set for early February. You have to go back to December 1989 to find a trip that long in Lakers history. It's one-fifth of their entire road schedule in one trip. The Lakers also are playing a New Year's Eve game, their first on that date home or away since 1968.
Their schedule looks like it will be front-loaded with home games this season. The Lakers could play as many as 15 of their first 20 games at home. I don't know whether that includes any road games against the Clippers at Staples.
If you win two-thirds of your home games and split your road games, you should finish about 48-34 for the season. That would have been good enough for fifth in the Western Conference last season. But if the Lakers schedule has that many home games in November and December, the team will have to come together quickly.
Just to stay on pace for 48 wins, the Lakers would want to open 13-7. It's the exact opposite from last season, when the Lakers were a .500 team until March 19 but took advantage of a schedule that had them playing 10 of their last 13 games at home. They made a little run, finished 45-37, and nearly pulled off a playoff upset.
Maybe the Lakers will be build some confidence at home early that will benefit them for the rest of the season. If they do play 15 of their first 20 at home, they can't afford a slow start to the season. We'll know everything for sure once the NBA schedule becomes official.
Posted by Ross Siler at 04:35 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2006
The happiest anniversary
I'm not sure where Ronny Turiaf will be Wednesday - - at last report he was training with the French national team in advance of next month's FIBA World Championships - - but I'm sure he will be celebrating somewhere. It will be a year to the day (July 26, 2005) since Turiaf underwent open heart surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root.
The fact that Turiaf made it back to play in the NBA less than seven months after undergoing the surgery is an absolute marvel. I will never forget being summoned to the Lakers practice facility last July on 90 minutes notice to hear team spokesman John Black say Turiaf was suffering from the same heart condition that killed actor John Ritter.
The Lakers said that night the best-case scenario was that Turiaf would sit out the entire 2005-06 season. I thought the odds probably were that he never would play again. As it turns out, Turiaf played in 23 games last season after struggling just to put on his socks in August.
A source I talked to a couple of months ago said Turiaf had the most to gain out of any player this off-season. I don't know how the minutes will break down next season, but it's fair to say that Turiaf can be expected to play a greater role on the team. Even if he's just dancing on the sidelines, though, Turiaf will be an inspiration to many.
Posted by Ross Siler at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2006
Mihm update
The Lakers announced today that Chris Mihm will undergo arthroscopic surgery Wednesday to remove scar tissue in his right ankle. Mihm suffered a severe sprain of the ankle in a March 12 game against Seattle. The ligaments that he tore have since healed, but the buildup of scar tissue is hampering his recovery, a team spokesman said. Mihm is expected to be back playing basketball again in four to six weeks and should be ready for training camp in October.
It will be an interesting season for Mihm in a lot of respects, chiefly because he will be an unrestricted free agent once it is over. The Lakers have three centers on their roster right now, with a lot invested in the two not named Mihm. Kwame Brown is owed $17 million the next two seasons and made strides at the end of last season with Mihm out. Beyond that, Andrew Bynum needs to play if he is to continue in his development.
Right now, Mihm will have to find minutes - - he started 56 games last season - - playing behind Brown and possibly sliding over to power forward. He has the jumper to play the position but is best suited as a center. The Lakers also figure to start Vladimir Radmanovic and Lamar Odom at their two forward spots. They just made a $30 million investment in Radmanovic, with Odom due more than $40 million the next three seasons.
You just have to wonder what would have happened had Mihm not sprained his ankle in the last minute of a game that was bad enough already.
Posted by Ross Siler at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2006
A-Train
Some final thoughts on Andrew Bynum's summer league season. It definitely seemed like for every game where the 18-year-old center took a step forward, he took a step back in another. His best game probably came in scoring 24 points and grabbing seven rebounds July 11 against Memphis. Even in that game, Bynum struggled with his foul shooting, going 8 for 15 from the line, and scored only two points in the fourth quarter.
The consistency of the refereeing in the summer league was not good, but Bynum also picked up a lot of fouls. He has to learn when to try to block a shot and when to back off and save himself a personal. Bynum also didn't get a ton of chances to show his moves in the post. But he was calling for the ball, and got up and down the floor well, which were two good signs.
My two favorite plays he made both came in Tuesday's game against Washington. On one of them, Bynum tipped an offensive rebound off the backboard from one side, then hammered home a dunk on the other side of the rim. He also used a nice two-dribble move to power to the basket after getting the ball at the foul line. I'm not sure I had seen him put the ball on the floor like that before.
Bynum also got a taste of what it means to play hard in back-to-back games, which happens between 15 and 20 times every NBA season. The next step for Bynum is to stay healthy going into and during training camp, unlike last season when he suffered an abdominal injury. Whether Bynum will get the 15 minutes a game he wants next season remains to be seen.
``I think if you go back and look at the tape of how he was playing in last year’s summer league and look at him now, you’ll see a dramatic improvement,'' assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. ``Not only in how well he’s playing but in his conditioning, how his body has reshaped itself in terms of getting some muscle and some definition to him.
``His understanding of the game is coming along. But he’s still a project. He understands that. He understands that he’s a ways away and he’s going to have to continue to work really, really hard if he expects to get time next year.’’
Finally, I think we have a nickname for Andrew. He walked out of the Pyramid last night wearing a Yankees hat that had the No. 17 stitched onto one side and "A-Train" stitched onto the other.
Posted by Ross Siler at 09:59 AM | Comments (672)
July 19, 2006
D-tails
There hasn't been a lot of info so far about the Lakers' new team in the NBA Development League. We don't know who the coach is going to be. We don't officially know the team name, although Jeanie Buss said last month the team would be the Los Angeles D-Fenders. But the schedule for the 2006-07 season is out, for those who are interested.
The team will play its first game Friday, Nov. 24 at Anaheim, then play Sunday, Nov. 26 at Bakersfield. The D-Fenders' first home game will be Tuesday, Nov. 28 against Bakersfield. The team is supposed to play its home games at Staples Center before Lakers games. It's sort of like the junior varsity game before the varsity game. The Lakers will be able to send their first- or second-year players to the D-League, up to two at any time.
The full schedule is online at www.nba.com/dleague. The NBA also has decided to add a D-League All-Star game to its All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. The inaugural game will be played Saturday, Feb. 17 as part of the NBA's Jam Session. It will follow practices for the NBA All-Star teams.
Posted by Ross Siler at 06:48 PM | Comments (20)
Get ready for Michael Fey
The Lakers called this afternoon to say Andrew Bynum would not be playing in tonight's (Wednesday) summer-league finale against Memphis after suffering a bone bruise in his knee. They expect him to be fine in about two or three weeks. Better be safe than sorry with an 18-year-old in whom so much is invested.
Bynum finishes his summer-league season having averaged 14.7 points, 7.9 rebounds 4.4 fouls, 2.3 blocks and 2.4 turnovers in seven games. He went 39 of 64 from the field (60.1 percent), 25 of 42 from the foul line (59.5 percent) and played 31.5 minutes per game. It's hard to say how much that means against the level of competition he faced.
It's a shame because tonight's game was shaping up as the best of the summer league. The Lakers were playing Memphis for the fourth and final time and Bynum was determined to show how he had learned to take advantage of the Grizzlies, who fronted him on defense in the three prior games. He also talked yesterday about having promised Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that he would hit at least one left-handed shot.
Now it looks like you're going to get a big dose of former UCLA center Michael Fey tonight at the Pyramid.
Posted by Ross Siler at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2006
Lakers 132, Wizards 123
By Ross Siler
Staff Writer
LONG BEACH--The Lakers should have finished off the Washington Wizards in the first quarter Tuesday, especially after opening the summer-league game with a Doron Perkins’ 3-pointer, a Jordan Farmar 3-pointer and an Andrew Bynum alley-oop dunk.
It was 8-0 after only 70 seconds, the Lakers on their way to a 13-point lead against a Washington team with only six players. Too bad there was another 46 minutes, 50 seconds to play at the Pyramid.
The Lakers weren’t able to finish off the Wizards in a 132-123 victory until Farmar, Bynum and J.R. Pinnock all checked back in with 7:42 left in the fourth quarter of a four-point game.
It was a defense optional game, with the Lakers shooting 60.6 percent and Bynum going 10-for-10 from the field on the way to 25 points and 11 rebounds. Devin Green scored 26 points and hit 12 of 14 shots and Farmar added 16 points and 11 assists.
Bynum made a number of nice plays in the game, though the Wizards did not have a true center to match up against him. He came up with a big rejection by rotating over as Washington’s Scooter McFadgon drove the lane in the closing seconds of the first half.
It was one of the few times all afternoon McFadgon was denied, scoring 15 points in the second quarter and 36 for the game.
Bynum got his points around the basket, off lobs and follow-up dunks, and put the ball on the floor to get from the foul line to rim on one play during the third quarter.
``I think that Andrew is going to be very capable with his back to the basket, he’s going to be very capable facing the basket,’’ assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. ``That 12- to 15-foot range is something that he’s going to be able to knock down open shots.
``If guys are too close to him, with his length and his abilities, he’s going to be able to put the ball down on the floor, too. I think if he continues to work, if he continues to grow, we’ll have a special ballplayer in a few years.’’
Bynum converted a three-point play after returning in the fourth quarter. Farmar followed by zipping a pass to Green for a basket. The Lakers finally pulled away as Farmar hit a tough bank shot off a play with Green.
Posted by Ross Siler at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
Roster math
The Lakers have spent their free-agent allowance, signing Vladimir Radmanovic and Shammond Williams to contracts on Wednesday. Radmanovic gets a deal for the maximum midlevel exception (five years and $30.2 million) while Williams will cost the Lakers their bi-annual exception (one year and $1.75 million). They still could sign a player for the league minimum or complete a sign-and-trade deal, though the second option is unlikely.
So far, the Lakers have added four players with guaranteed contracts this summer - - Jordan Farmar, Maurice Evans, Radmanovic and Williams. Smush Parker and Ronny Turiaf both are locks to make the team, although they do not have fully guaranteed deals. That leaves the Lakers with something pretty close to a 15-man roster.
C Kwame Brown/Chris Mihm/Andrew Bynum
PF Lamar Odom/Ronny Turiaf/Brian Cook
SF Vladimir Radmanovic/Luke Walton
SG Kobe Bryant/Maurice Evans/Aaron McKie
PG Smush Parker/Shammond Williams/Sasha Vujacic/Jordan Farmar
They could buy out the final year of Aaron McKie's contract - - getting almost no return on a $12-million investment in Vlade Divac and McKie the last two seasons - - and choose to keep one of their younger players from summer league. Or they could give Laron Profit the chance to make the team out of training camp.
The Lakers will introduce Williams this afternoon at their practice facility. One of the big questions for general manager Mitch Kupchak will be if his roster is set for next season and just how improved the Lakers will be with largely minor changes.
"We don't anticipate any more free agent signings,'' Kupchak said Wednesday. "Having said that, this time of year, there's a million phone calls regarding trades. That remains a possibility, although we don't have anything about to happen."
* * *
I was totally disappointed to see Radmanovic will not be bringing the No. 77 he wore in Seattle to the Lakers. It would have been the highest jersey number in team history; Dennis Rodman wore No. 73 during his time in purple and gold. Radmanovic decided to go with No. 10, which he wore as a teenager in Serbia.
* * *
Talked to Smush Parker for a couple of minutes at summer league Tuesday night. If anyone knows about summer league, it's Parker. He played for a different team (Detroit, Orlando, Indiana and the Lakers) each of the last four summers before this year. Parker's been in New York and said he has been playing a little bit on his own.
Posted by Ross Siler at 11:34 PM | Comments (1)
Lakers 87, Memphis 84
Somewhere between talking to our sports editor Tuesday afternoon and going to file an Internet story from the Lakers' summer-league game a little after 11 p.m., our signals got crossed at the paper. Our copy editors went home after the All-Star Game, and I'm not sure if my Web-only story will ever make it there.
So I'm posting it here in the blog and hoping to find it at dailynews.com/sports when I wake up Wednesday morning.
By Ross Siler
Staff Writer
LONG BEACH--The Lakers played more close games than just about anybody in the NBA last season. So why not continue the trend Tuesday night in their third summer-league game?
They did just that in an 87-84 victory over Memphis at the Pyramid and maybe learned a couple of things in the process.
For starters, Andrew Bynum can make free throws when they matter (at least in July) and Jordan Farmar isn’t afraid of making the big play down the stretch or sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong on the court.
Bynum went 8 of 15 from the foul line Tuesday but hit two free throws with 59.6 seconds left to cap his 24-point, 7-rebound game. Farmar drove for a layup with 34.1 seconds left and the Lakers survived from there.
``I was shooting them pretty good up until today,’’ Bynum said of his free throws. ``I’m probably going to go shoot some right now.’’
As a rookie, Bynum converted just 8 of 27 free throws, a Shaq-like 29.6 percent. He was so shaky at the line in the first half Tuesday that he conferred with special assistant coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during one timeout about what was going wrong.
He said afterward he wasn’t following through and might as well have been ``praying’’ his foul shots went in. Bynum had made 10 of 14 free throws in the two summer-league games before Tuesday.
But the Lakers believe that Bynum won’t merely be an adequate free throw shooter in his career, but a good one.
``We’ve heaped a lot of expectations on him in that area,’’ assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. ``We think that he’s going to be big enough and strong enough to be able to get himself to the line. So we want him to shoot for that 80 percent range on his free throws.’’
Farmar, meanwhile, looked like more than a 19-year-old rookie in beating Tarence Kinsey for his big layup in the final minute. The Lakers cleared out the court for Farmar, who was gone as soon as Kinsey turned his head.
Before that, Farmar showed his feistiness in the final minute by standing directly next to Memphis’ Junior Harrington as the Grizzlies guard went to talk to an assistant coach during a blood timeout prior to Bynum’s free throws.
It was something Farmar - - who finished with 21 points and hit 7 of 10 shots - - never thought twice about, even as a first-year professional.
``I was just playing around, trying to make him uncomfortable, and act like I knew what was going on,’’ Farmar said. ``I have no clue. Whatever they say, I don’t know their calls anyway.’’
Rambis said: ``He goes over there and listens. That’s the smart, crafty little move that he did. I liked that. He has as much right to stand there as the opposing player.’’
Bynum got most of his points off dunks and lobs and might have had a 30-point game had he not struggled so much from the line. He hit 8 of 11 shots with the Grizzlies playing what he called ``ridiculous defense.’’
``They were totally fronting me all the way on the high side with small guys, not really having any backside help,’’ Bynum said. ``So we just kept abusing that situation.’’
Posted by Ross Siler at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
Friday free agent update
Put in a call Friday afternoon to Mark Bartelstein, one of the NBA's top agents, who represents Devean George and Brian Cook among many players.
He said there's nothing new with George, whose run with the Lakers will come to an end after seven seasons. Bartelstein said he is still talking with a bunch of teams about George and they are not yet at the stage of setting up visits for him.
The list of teams interested in George, from Saturday, was Cleveland, Denver, Washington, the Clippers, San Antonio and Phoenix.
I also asked about how the Lakers' agreement with Vladimir Radmanovic will affect Cook's status. Maybe Cook wants out - - he'll be a restricted free agent next summer - - but Bartelstein didn't suggest that in our conversation.
"Radmanovic sort of took Devean's spot,'' Bartelstein said. "I don't know if that changes anything with Brian. He's going to go out there and compete, and I think he's going to have a great, great year.''
Bartelstein represents a lot of guys who aren't among the top tier free agents, including Darius Songaila, Jake Voskuhl, Aaron Williams and Jannero Pargo. He mentioned those four on Saturday as players the Lakers at least had discussed as free agency opened, but said Friday that there had been no negotiations with the team.
* * *
The Lakers still could spend the $1.75 million bi-annual salary cap exception on a free agent this summer. The catch is that they could not use it come next summer. It is not good for consecutive years.
* * *
With so much attention sure to be on Andrew Bynum this summer-league season, I thought it would be worth noting how some of the other high school-to-the-NBA players from the Class of 2005 are doing.
Martell Webster had 29 points on 10 of 19 shooting (5 of 8 3-pointers) for Portland's team on Thursday night in Las Vegas. Andray Blatche, a second-round pick by Washington, had 15 points and 12 rebounds but also eight turnovers. Hope those eight turnovers are a misprint in the box score.
Posted by Ross Siler at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2006
A league of his own
How young is Andrew Bynum? Consider that the youngest player taken in the first round of last month’s (age-limited) draft was Joel Freeland, a center from England born Feb. 7, 1987.
Bynum was born Oct. 27, 1987, making him a full eight months and 20 days younger than the youngest player who went in the draft the year AFTER HIM. And Freeland was taken with the last pick of the first round by Portland.
So you can see how important the summer league season, which starts Saturday, is for Bynum. The chances for him to play are few and far between. I talked with him Thursday at the Lakers practice facility for a story in Friday’s paper.
It’s interesting that the Lakers always play down their expectations for Bynum, who only plays them up for himself. Kurt Rambis talked Thursday about Bynum being, in his words, ``a ways away’’ from having the strength necessary to play against older and stronger centers.
Bynum, on the other hand, said he wanted to play “15 to 20 minutes at least’’ per game next season. Keep in mind Kwame Brown was in the gym while he said this.
I’m not sure how good a test Bynum will get in summer league. The Lakers play Memphis four times and the Grizzlies have one player on their roster taller than 6-foot-9. But it will give Bynum the chance to show what he has learned.
Another interesting tidbit from Thursday: Bynum is going to take an online English class through the University of Phoenix. Maybe by the end of his career he’ll have his MBA just like Shaq.
* * *
Kwame Brown was working out Thursday, which is a good sign considering Mitch Kupchak twice mentioned at the exit meetings in May that Brown couldn’t afford to get away from the game over the summer.
Brown has been conditioning for the most part and said a nagging shoulder injury has been keeping him off the court. Laron Profit also was at the practice facility and said he will be cleared to play Friday in his comeback from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
* * *
There are a couple of players on the summer league roster worth mentioning in addition to Bynum. One is guard Devin Green, who went from being undrafted out of Hampton to making the team in training camp last season.
It all started for Green in summer league. The Lakers think that at 6-foot-7, 210 pounds, Green can be a tough defender against guards and small forwards. But he has to show he can shoot the ball as well.
Green went just 6 of 28 (21.4 percent) from the field last season. He played in only 27 games but never was sent to the Development League. The Lakers wouldn’t have kept him around if they didn’t see potential.
``I think he can turn himself into a good ballplayer,’’ Rambis said. ``But he, like Andrew, needs time out there playing.’’
The Lakers also have draft picks Jordan Farmar and J.R. Pinnock on the roster plus guard Von Wafer. Former second-round pick Marcus Douthit played in the D-League last season and averaged 10.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 41 games with Albuquerque.
Douthit will see time at power forward opposite Bynum. The Lakers have had three players - - Tony Bobbitt, Smush Parker and Green - - who played their way onto the roster beginning at summer league.
The summer league roster...
NAME
POS
HT
WT
BIRTHDATE
SCHOOL
Andrew Bynum
C
7-0
275
10/27/87
St. Josephs (HS)
Marcus Douthit
F
6-11
233
5/15/80
Providence
Jordan Farmar
G
6-2
180
11/30/86
UCLA
Michael Fey
C
7-0
270
5/29/83
UCLA
Devin Green
G
6-7
210
10/25/82
Hampton
Nick Horvath
F
6-10
215
2/18/81
Duke
Nile Murry
G
6-4
208
1/26/83
TCU
Doron Perkins
G
6-2
200
5/6/83
Santa Clara
Danilo (JR) Pinnock
G
6-5
207
12/11/83
George Washington
Kasib Powell
F
6-7
215
3/18/81
Texas Tech
Byron Sanders
F
6-9
240
9/8/83
UNC
Marcus Slaughter
F
6-9
220
3/18/85
San Diego State
Von Wafer
G
6-5
210
7/21/85
Florida State
Posted by Ross Siler at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)